Accessible scenic arts and Virtual Reality: A pilot study with aged people about user preferences when reading subtitles in immersive environments

The technological advancements in virtual reality and other forms of immersive content such as 360o video are triggering the concept of liveness in the scenic arts, and deserve in-depth consideration in audiovisual translation studies. The reception of subtitles in this new VR-based media needs to be studied. In the specific field of media accessibility, accessibility in immersive media much research needs to be done. This article explores the preferences of two subtitle options: Subtitles for the D/deaf and hard-of-hearing and Easy-to-Read in a 360o video of Romeo and Juliette the opera, played at the Gran Teatre del Liceu during the 2017/2018 season. A pilot study was prepared and conducted with the aim of determining which subtitling options are preferred by users aged between 50 and 79.

[1]  Marta Mateo.  Reception, text and context in the study of opera surtitles , 2007 .

[2]  Marvin A. Carlson.  Speaking in Tongues: Languages at Play in the Theatre , 2006 .

[3]  Anna Rędzioch-Korkuz,et al.  Constraints on Opera Surtitling: Hindrance or Help? , 2018, Meta.

[4]  Lindsay Bywood,et al.  Audiovisual Translation , 2021, Journal of Audiovisual Translation.

[5]  Pilar Orero Clavero,et al.  Easy to Read as Multimode Accessibility Service , 2019 .

[6]  Sarah Eardley-Weaver.  Lifting the Curtain on Opera Translation and Accessibility: Translating Opera for Audiences with Varying Sensory Ability , 2014 .

[7]  Lucile Desblache.  From Minor to Major: Accessing Marginal Voices Through Music. New Ways for Translation? , 2019, Second Language Learning and Teaching.

[8]  Riitta Virkkunen,et al.  The source text of opera surtitles , 2004 .

[9]  Lucile Desblache,et al.  Music to my ears, but words to my eyes? Text, opera and their audiences , 2021, Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series – Themes in Translation Studies.

[10]  Marta Mateo Martínez-Bartolomé.  Los sobretítulos de ópera: dimensión técnica, textual, social e ideológica , 2002 .

[11]  P. E. Piorno.  Teatro y traducción: Aproximación interdisciplinaria desde la obra de Shakespeare , 2008 .

[12]  Verónica Arnáiz Uzquiza.  Los parámetros que identifican el subtitulado para sordos: análisis y clasificación , 2012 .

[13]  Estella Oncins,et al.  The tyranny of the tool: surtitling live performances , 2015 .

[14]  Pilar Orero,et al.  Accessible Opera: Overcoming Linguistic and Sensorial Barriers , 2007 .

[15]  Pilar Orero,et al.  From Disabilities to Capabilities: testing subtitles in immersive environments with end users , 2018, Hikma.

[16]  Yvonne Griesel.  Surtitling: Surtitles an other hybrid on a hybrid stage , 2017 .

[17]  L. Pérez-González,et al.  The Routledge Handbook of Audiovisual Translation , 2018, Across Languages and Cultures.

[18]  Sarah Eardley-Weaver.  Opening Doors to Opera:: the strategies, challenges and general role of the translator , 2010 .

[19]  Antonia Mele Scorcia.  Surtitling and the audience: A love-hate relationship , 2018 .

[20]  Peter Low.  Surtitles for opera: A specialised translating task , 2002 .

[21]  Peter W. Low,et al.  Translating Song: Lyrics and Texts , 2016 .

[22]  Sarah Eardley-Weaver,et al.  Opening eyes to opera: The process of translation for blind and partially-sighted audiences , 2013 .

[23]  Frederic Chaume Varela,et al.  An overview of audiovisual translation: Four methodological turns in a mature discipline , 2018, Journal of Audiovisual Translation.

[24]  Mario Montagud,et al.  Making interaction with virtual reality accessible: rendering and guiding methods for subtitles , 2019, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing.

[25]  Gian Maria Greco,et al.  On Accessibility as a Human Right, with an Application to Media Accessibility , 2016 .

[26]  Ben Van Wyke,et al.  The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation , 2018 .

[27]  S. Bruti,et al.  Audiovisual Translation across Europe: An Ever-changing Landscape , 2012 .

[28]  Pablo Romero-Fresco.  In support of a wide notion of media accessibility: Access to content and access to creation , 2018, Journal of Audiovisual Translation.

[29]  Lia Tsotsos,et al.  Supporting Optimal Aging through the Innovative Use of Virtual Reality Technology , 2017 .

[30]  Lucile Desblache.  How is Music Translated? Mapping the Landscape of Music Translation , 2019, Music and Translation.

[31]  Eduard Bartoll,et al.  Paràmetres per a una taxonomia de la subtitulació , 2008 .

[32]  Eduard Bartoll,et al.  Parameters for the classification of subtitles , 2004 .

[33]  Estel·la Oncins Noguer.  Accessibility for the scenic arts , 2014 .

[34]  R. van Ee,et al.  Acceptance of immersive head-mounted virtual reality in older adults , 2019, Scientific Reports.

[35]  Philip Auslander,et al.  Digital Liveness: A Historico-Philosophical Perspective , 2012, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art.

[36]  A. Roberts,et al.  Older Adults’ Experiences with Audiovisual Virtual Reality: Perceived Usefulness and Other Factors Influencing Technology Acceptance , 2019, Clinical gerontologist.

[37]  Thomas Gruber,et al.  Experiences in Virtual Reality: a Window to Autobiographical Memory , 2019 .

[38]  Jason M. Silveira,et al.  The effect of subtitles on listeners’ perceptions of expressivity , 2014 .

[39]  Marta Mateo,et al.  PERFORMING MUSICAL TEXTS IN A TARGET LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SPAIN , 2001 .

[40]  L. Dewolf,et al.  Surtitling Operas. With Examples of Translations from German into French and Dutch , 2001 .